Halloween has changed a lot since I was wee. Then it was all about homemade costumes, neeps and guising and not a mention of trick or treating and pumpkins. You had to do a proper turn to get your sweetie. A joke would have had the door slammed on your face. I spotted some proper Neep lanterns on Cool Gourmet's Facebook page so took boy and girl to see them (we had hot chocolate, coffee, irn bru cake, scones and pancakes too) They seemed somewhat perplexed as to why there were no pumpkins in "the olden days" but liked the herby hair and beard.
Simplistic carving is the order of the day where neep lanterns are concerned. It takes time and dedication to carve one and the smell of a stubby candle burning the inside of a neep is a childhood memory I would rather forget. Foodie Loon has been the Pumpkin King in our house in recent years taking on ever increasingly complex creations. Last year we had a ghost and a witch.
This year there were requests for Minions and Gru but they were outvoted by a "Hannibal the Cannibal" and a "Drunkin Pumpkin". The drunkin has been carved but yet to be "assembled" so I'll add it later. Watch this space...
We got the cute mini Pumpkin from Lidl where they had a great selection of unusual squashes in a fantastic array of shapes, sizes and colour combinations. Instructions here if you want to have a go at making your own Cannibalistic Pumpkin.
We had a fab Halloween themed Pinnies & Petticoats Cake Club Meet last year which you can read all about in this Spooktacular Blog Post. I made Hot Dog Mummies and Witches Fingers. Lots of inspiration on my Halloween Pinterest Board too. I'll get round to making everything on there some day.
I missed October cake club this year but still baked up some Gingerdead Men. Boy did the baking and I did the icing. We were both really pleased with how they turned out especially as its the first time I've used a pressed cookie cutter.
Friends have just returned from a holiday in Canada and brought back some Halloweeny gifts for boy and girl. We should be a dab hand at the stamped Skeleton Cookies after our Gingerdead Men and the Caramel Apple wraps look like a much easier and safer way of making toffee apples than boiling red sugar.
I've got a huge tub of pumpkin flesh to use up. Much too tasty to sacrifice it all as Jack O' Lanterns. A Beef, Beer, Barley and Pumpkin Stew went in the Slow Cooker yesterday (topped off with doughballs) and Pumpkin Soup and Roasted Pumpkin & Rosemary Pasta are on the meal plan for later in the week.
The goodie bags are all ready and boy and girl have their costumes looked out. Have a Happy Halloween however you celebrate. I'll be heading to a Christmas Cookery Class. I kid you not. Mincemeat and Sage & Sausagemeat Stuffing is on my menu for tomorrow night.
ETA Here he is, late to the party. The "Drunkin Pumpkin"
No comments